Ariana didn't have to look behind her to know that the men were
getting closer, she could hear their shouts grow louder as they
closed in on her, that much was obvious, but what really gave
them away was the clink of beer bottles as more became empty and
were quickly tossed aside to make room for more.

"where that girly go!?" one of them shouted pushing Ariana
forward, she was dodging through the park trees knowing that she
didn't have much time to hesitate in her unfamiliar surroundings.

Her and her mother had just recently moved to big New York, NY
and between her new job as a waitress at a near by grilling joint
and her home work for the beginning of 11 grade she hadn't had a
lot of time to explore the nearby attractions such as the park
or, something more helpful in her case, the police station half a
block away from her work which she would have ran too if she knew
it was there but since she didn't this was the best place for her
to hid, so she thought.

The moons eerie white light played across the trees seeping in
through the branches here in there playing across Ariana's golden
blond hair giving it a strange shine that you would expect angel
hair to have, but the difference between them was that angels had
wings and she really wished for them right now.

The wind picked up as she ran sending a shiver through up
Ariana's spine since her white blouse and black skirt offered no
protection against the elements, she prayed she was home right
now and not running for her life from some drunken men that she
had annoyed earlier when she didn't bring their food on time.
Right after her shift had ended she found them in the parking lot
and was disturbed because they had fallowed her until she toke
off running into the park where they ran after her yelling stuff
about how they were going to show her, her place. Ariana half
tripped over a upturned root but gained her balance again as she
ran forward through the ever darkening night.

"they stopped," she mumbled after a while stopping so she could
turn and look behind her to see if the men really had stopped,
slowly she began to walk backwards to anxious to stay still.

"ah!" Ariana screeched falling backwards some how tripping over a
root she swore wasn't there a moment ago, she squinted her eyes
shut and waited for the wind to be knocked out of her body as she
hit the ground but as seconds ticked by the cold ground never
made impact with her back, but something else did.

"are you alright?" a male voice asked, Ariana felt her body being
shifted in his arms. she opened her eyes, startled at the sudden
change in events, and found herself staring into the eyes of a
boy around 17 who looked like any other new yorker but he was
dressed like he belonged in medieval china because he was wearing
a long white dress with a lose blue fabric around his chest that
hung down to his wast then was tied down with a small white rope
and he had cut of sleeves that were pulled to his elbows but then
where left hanging but Ariana barely noticed this, at first,
because she was focused on his sloppy cut white hair and golden
eyes staring down into her plain green ones.

"i asked if you where alright," he stated his voice was warm and
comforting but something about him made her want to get up and
run.

"i-i'm alrigh-" but she was cut of by the drunkards shouts from
the line of trees surrounding the clearing, she shuttered knowing
that there was no way she could get away from them now. The
strange boy looked from her to the men who where slowly seeping
out of the line of trees like deformed goo.

"please," she whispered looking up pleadingly to the boy, "please
don't let them get me," she whispered her line of sight shifting
from the boy to the nearing drunks.

"what do they want with you?" the boy asked gently helping her
sit before standing in between her and the sight of the men,
Ariana shivered slightly at the thought of what they could do to
her if the boy let them.

"they want to put me in my place by-" but she was cut of by her
own quite sob that she could no longer hold back, the boy looked
down at her crying figure, rage racking across his features as he
realized what the men wanted with her.

"where I come from-" he stated pulling his hands over his head as
if he was about to swing a sword, "men are killed for doing such
things to a women. . . this world should hold to exception," on
the last word a long sword appeared in his hands and it curved in
a half-moon to the ground and where the blade of the sword meet
the blades of grace a strange white light would shimmer around it
and sent a wind up and around the boy.

Ariana sat quietly behind him in both shock and horror but as the
boy ran to meet the drunks with his sword pulled behind him
everything went dark and Ariana slumped unconscious to the
ground.

* * *

The boy shifted Ariana's body his arms making sure he wasn't
waking her, she deserved some rest. The white hot flame that had
burned through him when he first realized what the men wanted to
do to this fair damsel was still burning inside his veins, or
what use to be veins at lest, by the time he had scared them off
and had came back to find her sleeping peacefully

"the poor girl," he sighed lifting her up into his arms ever so
carefully so he wouldn't hurt her already browsed body then stood
letting her arms cling to his neck like a life support, he smiled
softly remembering when he was alive and his little sister did
this to him every night when he carried her from the pound, where
she often stayed till he came for her, to her mat in the sleeping
chambers but he quickly forgot about it knowing that the memory
was still one of the very few things that brought him to tears,
if he could cry anyway.

"no! Please let me go!" the girl in his arms muttered in her
sleep, his grip on her tightened slightly knowing that she was
having a nightmare about those pigs, quickly he walked to the
shimmering pound where he had come through earlier to preform his
duties as the guardian of that certain portal. His shift was
almost done and he had to return before the first brake of dawn
or he would be stranded in this world forever but as he neared
the shimmering water he knew that he couldn't leave the maiden by
herself in case those. . . those dogs came back for her
and he didn't even want to think about what they would do to her
if they found her alone like this, alone and unprotected. But he
had no time to bring her back to a safe place knowing the sun
would rise before he could make it back to the pool but the
thought of those men still made a fire burn in his body to
protect her, so he made quick decision and started to walk into
the shimmering blue water allowing it to lap up and around his
body as he slowly made his way deeper and deeper.

"don't worry," he whispered into the girls ear, "i promise to
keep you safe," and with his final words the water lapped over
his head bringing him down into the world of the forgotten along
with a girl he barely knew but wanted to stay with him for the
rest of forever.